scram

scram · verb, noun¹

1. Middle High German · derived fromschramm
2. German · derived fromschramm
3. English todayscram

Probably either: * a clipping of scramble by apocope; or * from dialectal German schramm, the imperative singular form of schrammen (“to scratch, scrape”), from Late Middle High German schramm, schramme (“a graze, scratch”); further etymology unknown.

scram · verb, noun²

Uncertain; the verb is possibly derived from etymology 1. It has been suggested that the word is an acronym for phrases like “safety control rod actuator mechanism”, “safety cut rope axe man”, “safety control rod axe man”, and “safety control rods activation mechanism”, but these are most likely backronyms. The noun is probably derived from the verb.

scram · verb, noun³

1. German · derived fromschrammen“to scratch, scrape”
2. Dutch · derived fromschrammen“to graze, scratch”
3. English todayscram

The verb is a variant of dialectal English scramb (“to pull or rake together with the hands; to gather a handful of something from the ground; to scratch with the claws or nails; to pull down violently; to tear off; to maul about; a handful of something from the ground”), possibly related to Dutch schrammen (“to graze, scratch”) and German schrammen (“to scratch, scrape”); see etymology 1. The noun is derived from the verb.

scram · verb⁴

Origin unknown.

SCRAM · noun, verb⁵

See scram; the use of uppercase letters may be because the word is thought to be an acronym of phrases like “safety control rod actuator mechanism”, “safety control rod axe man”, and “safety control rods activation mechanism”, but these are most likely backronyms.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from early 20th c. To leave in a hurry; to go away.